Aklilu Lemma

Aklilu Lemma was an Ethiopian pathologist. In 1989, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award "for discovering and campaigning relentlessly for an affordable preventative against bilharzia." He made his most important scientific discovery very early in his career in 1964 when he discovered a natural environmental control agent for schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever or bilharzia. He found that berries from the endod plant, which are commonly used to make soap and shampoos in many parts of Africa, are a potent, inexpensive and safe molluscicide, to prevent the spread of the parasitic worm via infected aquatic snails. This discovery made the plant an object of scientific research in many parts of the world.